Formation of Au55 Strands on a Molecular Template at the Solid−Liquid Interface

We report on a procedure that leads to the formation of linearly arranged ligand stabilized Au 55 clusters. This approach utilizes the incorporation of chemically modified Au 55 nanoclusters into highly oriented molecular templates by substitution of individual molecules of the template. The required molecular templates are, for example, formed spontaneously at the solid−liquid interface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and can be directly investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at the solid-solution interface. The molecular templates are used to guide the incorporation of Au 55 clusters resulting in strands of linearly arranged nano-objects and represent self-organized nano-structures with a periodicity down to a few nanometers.